Friday, December 12, 2014

Well I suppose it’s time to talk about the Seattle Half
Marathon, which was a couple weeks ago.Kind of a crazy few weeks, but it was such a fun race it needs to be
written about! :)

A couple weeks prior, Mac told me I needed to run the race
myself and see how I did.Which is good,
but also kind of scary!She has always
been there with me, and it has allowed me to focus on having a good time and
running it with a friend.We’ve both
gotten PRs in the process, but it was a lot easier to just think about having
fun that focus on numbers.So, this time
did feel different.

I initially decided I would shoot for 1:45.That was my 13.1 PR, which was from Skagit
Flats (pancake-flat course) so if I could manage the same time at Seattle (very
hilly), then I would be happily impressed.But of course, that’s never enough, and somehow 1:40 worked its way in
my head—just because it’s a nice round number, I think.Anyway, I spent a lot of time thinking about
it and going over the math and trying to figure out if that was actually
do-able or not.I’ve run the distance
and run fast enough, but never at the same time (and also never on hills)…and I
didn’t want to set unrealistic expectations only to be disappointed, when
really a 1:45 was a perfectly reasonable stretch of a goal.Besides, I could shoot for the 7:38/mi pretty
easily (needed for 1:40), but then you always run a little further on the course,
etc etc etc so needed to account for that so I figured 7:28ish… all in all, I was
thinking about it a lot and trying to balance my eagerness to really push
myself hard, along with still have fun and manage reasonable, physical
expectations.

I finally I would go for 1:45 (8:00min/mi with hills sounded
reasonable) and would be super happy with that, but would push it and see how
close to 1:40 I could get (assuming it felt alright).Then of course, the night before the race (as
I was procrastinating and NOT packing my stuff) Kyle texted me to wish me
luck..and told me to run a 1:40.Well,
shoot.Now that someone ELSE is putting
it in my head again…Aftera quick pep talk from him, consisting of both
numbers/logic and friendly encouragement (my friends know me so well), I
figured sure, I’ll shoot for it!And if nothing
else, at least I tried.The plan was to
take it mile-by-mile and try to stay on pace one mile at a time.I needed a 7:35/mi (for the 13.1 mile
distance) and would rack up as much “extra” in the beginning as possible.I remembered the first few miles were
slightly downhill, and it’s always easy to get a little extra speed at the
beginning, so gaining any extra time would be perfect and I wouldn’t have to
worry too much if I slowed a little with the hills at the end.Plan in place, it was finally time to get to
bed.

The next morning was early—and COLD.I think it was 17F when I got up, and I think
temperature in Seattle at race time was up to 24F.Did I mention COLD?We picked up MacBeth and met Kyle there, and
basically spent the time waiting trying to not freeze.Soon enough, it was time to get rid of the
puffy jackets and mylar (sad…), so Mac and I pushed our way to the start
line.Then it was REALLY cold.My toes were completely numb, and really just
needed to get moving!I saw the 1:45 and
1:35 pace groups were right ahead of me, and right next to each other, so
figured I’d keep an eye out and try work out positioning from there.

After a pretty underwhelming countdown, we were off!No horn or anything which was odd, but
suddenly everyone was moving so—ok, guess it’s time to go!I quickly tried to weave and navigate the
first few blocks, which is always tough… but managed it ok.I was greatful that I had remembered the
first few miles correctly—it really is mostly all a gradual downhill.Not steep enough that you really feel like you’re
going downhill, but enough that it definitely speeds you up. I even ran a 6:45 for a mile!!I was very conscious of gauging how I felt,
because I did NOT want to burn out later, but everything felt in check so I tried
not to stress it too much.

My toes were still number.It hurt to run.They slowly began
to thaw, but as feeling returned, it was a pins and needles feeling.Not pleasant.Spoiler alert: it took about 5 or 6 miles for them to thaw out
completely and stop hurting!

Anyway, we came up to the big overpass which is the first
real hill.Not bad.It’s long and gradual and intimidating
looking, but luckily it’s so early that it didn’t bother me.I kept sighting people and then passing them,
which was nice…of course, some people went BLAZING past me.Oh well. Still on pace.Even with the big hill, I was around a 7:35
so just right.

The I-90 tunnel was next.Bleh.Luckily it wasn’t nearly as
humid, but still..yuck.No GPS either,
so just kept running and tried to match the speed of people around me, knowing
I could adjust when we got out.That’s
when I realized that I had just about caught up to the 1:35 group, which was
right ahead of me!I considered pushing
it ot meet up with them, but then remembered that just 24 hours ago I was
thinking 1:40 was a huge stretch, and figured it would be better to hit 1:40
than to try for 1:35 and pay for it.When we got out of the tunnel I kept them in my sights for a while, but
eventually they got away—and I let them go.(I found out later that my cousin was actually the pacer for that
group!If only I had known.I definitely would have caught up and tried
to run with him if I had known it was him!Oh well.)

Running along the lake was nice.The sun was finally coming out and it was
gorgeous!Overall I was a lot less cold
and unzipped my jacket just a little..but it definitely was not warm.I kept tabs on everyone around me, kept tabs
on my pace (still looking good), kept tabs on how I felt..really tried to play
it safe.Around halfway done with the
race at this point, and while it wasn’t super effortless, I knew that I wasn’t
going to run out of gas just yet, so that was encouraging. But, there was still
on giant hill and then the hills in the arboretum coming up…

And, there was the big hill!In all honesty, this was the only hill I truly remembered from last
year.It’s a short, VERY steep hill…and
then goes a round a corner and gradually continues up for a long time.It’s deceptive, but also annoying because you
use up energy on the super steep part at the beginning, but then you have a
long way to go before you get any time to recover.I managed it ok, though.Tried to be smart, and not push it super hard…I
knew I could push it on the downhill.

The arboretum was next.I knew there were hills there but honestly didn’t remember much of them,
so figured they couldn’t be too terrible.Turns out, yes, there are a whole lot of hills…and some are a little
steeper and its’ very repetitive up and down..but I don’t know, still not
terrible.Thinking back, I don’t
remember any hugely terrible ones, I think because they are at least relatively
short so there is always a downhill coming up to look forward to :) There was
one photographer on one hill that was awesome…all alone in the arboretum, and
there he is, sitting there yelling “woah, yeah, you look AWESOME!GREAT JOB, you are KILLING IT!Looking AMAZING, you’re like a model!” etc
etc etc.It was soooo over the top that
it just made everyone smile and laugh—which is brilliant, because then you got
good photos.So, that was fun.

The last few miles got tough, as expected.It seems so far away, since you can see the
space needle waaaay off in the distance and you know that’s where you’re
headed, but you know there’s only about 3 miles to go.Plus there are still hills.And it just seems to go forever…I started doing the math near the end of the
arboretum, and knew I should hit 1:40 as long as I kept going, so that was a
lot of great encouragement for me.I was
feeling it, but I wasn’t dead just yet and it wasn’t TOO far to go!It’s funny, my legs rarely get very tired, it’s
usually just my heart rate and breathing that let me know I am going hard and struggling.But that’s manageable, so kept on going.Staying on pace, checking my garmin way too
often to see how much further….

Running through the streets of Seattle at the end feels like
forever.

Finally, finally, FINALLY, the last turn into the stadium
was in sight!Check the garmin—it was around
1:36 so YES, I was going to make 1:40 unless I fell over and died on the
spot!I could probably walk and make it,
so now I got to run and see if I could go UNDER 1:40…what?!I was shocked, and also super happy.As I ran into the stadium, I tripped in a
pothole and seriously almost fell and twisted my ankle (my ankles aren’t super
strong, and I felt it twist and give out, but THANK GOODNESS it didn’t give out
and I didn’t hurt it).Phew, crisis
averted!Running to the finish line was
great.I saw 1:38 on the finish line
clock, and just like that, I was ready to stop running!

It wasn’t until after I had gotten my medal/water/mylar and
found Allen and had time to really realize I was done…that I realized I had
pushed it.Which was a great
feeling.Probably could have pushed it
more ;) but I had pushed it none the less.My chest was tight (I think from just all the cold air) and I had
trouble focusing on too many things at once so…decided to focus on
breathing.Finally started feeling
better and headed over to cheer on Mac as she finished.

Overall, such a fun race!I am so stocked on my 1:37:59 (officially haha), and so glad that
everyone encouraged me and pushed me to go for it. :)And I think the BEST part was rushing over to
Mac when she finished, and Kyle must have already told her because before I could
even get to her she was yelling “BADASS! Awesome job!”Barely finished her on race, and she was
already happy about mine!She is like
the epitome of badass in my mind, so it was such a compliment and just really
sweet.Icing on the cake.She had a great run too, solid time and it
was a beautiful day so all-around good times.The giant breakfast festivities afterwards weren’t bad, either ;)

Anyway, it was an amazing way to end 2014.I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: the
bike will always be my #1 love, but this year was truly a year for
running.From running my first marathon
in May, to seeing huge improvements and speed (both in tris and also just long
runs), I feel like I have really “grown” as a runner a lot this year.I’ve learned so much about how my body feels
and what it needs and how it reacts, and when to push it (and just how far it
really can be pushed).You wouldn’t there
there’s too much to “learn” about running, but I have definitely learned!The fact that my VO2 results confirm that I’m
stronger running that on the bike kinda sealed the deal on the “2014 was all about
running” front.Go figure.I’ve had such a fun time smashing goals this
year, and now more huge goals for next year, for sure. Only a few more weeks to take advantage of loose, no-plans training..then it's time to buckle down and really focus in on a little somethign happening Juen 28th, 2015.... ;)